There are two new books out that I will definitely want to read.

One is Superfreakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. The superbestseller Freakonomics wasn't my cup of tea – I found it too gimmicky and some of it not actually about economics but rather distant areas of empirical social science. Some people kindly pointed out that this was no doubt sour grapes on my part as my own book hadn't sold a fraction so well, and maybe that's true as well. However, Tim Harford gave Superfreakonomics a big thumbs up in his review in the FT (and also his blog) this weekend, so I'll certainly contribute to the sales of this sequel and give it a go. (The FT has a system which limits the number of times you can access articles for free, so if you don't have a subscription go for the second of those links.)

The other is Roger Bootle's The Trouble With Markets, positively reviewed in this morning's FT by Chris Cook. I don't always agree with Roger's analysis but it's always stimulating and I'm sure this will be a terrific read about the financial crisis.